Thursday, 25 July 2013

After
two fantastic days racing at Cartmel, many people have asked me, “What happens
next on the racecourse?”Well
the clear-up starts straight away and, while we always try to get the park back
into shape as quickly as possible, the village will be visited by the judges of
Britain in Bloom next week – so we want to be doubly sure that the racecourse
is as tidy as possible. A
dedicated team of casual staff, including local families and members of the
Cartmel Cricket Club, collect in the region of 17 tonnes of rubbish. The waste
is collated and removed from site by Wicks Waste Management Services, who
ensure that 100% of it is recycled. Glass, plastic, cardboard and metal are
sorted for re-processing. The rest is treated and converted to “refuse derived fuel”
– not sold yet in Britain, but usually exported to Holland for use on the
continent. This
weekend the racecourse will be hired by the local Pony Club for an annual
event, while members of the Lakeland Caravan Club will be staging a rally to
coincide with the Steam Gathering on Cark Airfield. That’s assuming that we can
get all the marquees down in time; it’s a tight turn-around. Next
week we’ll be hosting the Sunflower Ball, in the Louis Roederer Restaurant on
the first floor of the Grandstand, for St Mary’s Hospice. The Grandstand is
available throughout the year for weddings, private functions and corporate
events. And following that, it’s the Cartmel Agricultural Show on Wednesday 7th
August. The
divots left by the horse’s hooves have already been neatly forked back into
place and this week’s rain has helped to stimulate the grass to grow in
preparation for the August Bank Holiday Meeting; all of which will please our
Clerk of the Course, Anthea Morshead, who is supervising the action at York on Saturday.
She isn’t allowed to have a bet – but you can… I’d suggest
Mukhadram in the York Stakes at 2.55pm. Between
watching races during the afternoon, I’ll be spending some time in the garden.
Regular readers will be aware of the failed asparagus crop – I’m delighted to
report that the fine weather has brought compensation in the form of delicious
strawberries, redcurrants and gooseberries.

Thursday, 18 July 2013

It’s
hot down at the racecourse this week and we’re looking forward to a couple of
those perfect Cartmel race-days. The sun will be shining, there’ll be picnic
blankets, ice-creams, glasses of nice cool drinks, giddy crowds on the
fairground and … did I mention… the weather is going to be hot? Horses
don’t generally eat ice-cream (something to do with not liking chocolate or
vanilla I think), so we are making alternative arrangements to keep them cool.
As part of the legacy from the London Olympics, we have been allowed to use the
large fans that were used to blow a fine mist of water droplets over the equine
competitors during the 2012 Games. Located in a marquee adjacent to the wash
down area, the fans will be able to cool the horses as soon as they come off
the track. We’ll also have thousands of litres of water available at strategic
points around the racecourse, ensuring that any horses that are pulled up can
be cooled quickly too. There
is £125,000 of prize money on offer for Saturday and Monday and the entries for
all the races look really strong. The most valuable race of our season is the
£27,000 Totepool Cumbria Crystal Cup, run for the first time last year. The
winner on that occasion was What A Steel who will carry an additional 5lb
compared to last year if he gets into the race; preference may be for Scotswell
who always runs well at Cartmel. The
£15,000 McGuinness Feeds Handicap Hurdle is the most valuable hurdle race in
Britain restricted to lady riders. Donald McCain has stepped in to book Lucy
Alexander for Life And Soul and that looks a good combination in a “hot” race.
It would be great to see a local winner and I’d give a serious chance to Jimmy
Moffatt’s Seize in the Louis Roederer Handicap Steeplechase; he’s 12lb lower in
the weights since his last run and looks as though he’ll appreciate the faster
going. Off
the track, the competition is going to be even hotter. Racegoers will be invited
to take part in a contest to cook the best BBQ meal, using a selection of
mystery ingredients – in a similar format to the TV show Ready Steady Cook. The
winners of each 30 minute round will be invited to take part in the sizzling
final at the end of each race-day. We’ll also be awarding a prize to the
racegoers that set-up the most stylish picnic or BBQ in either public
enclosure. We’re
looking forward to a great weekend. Did I mention that it is going to be hot?

Friday, 12 July 2013

I
am reliably informed by a member of our friendly catering team (which means
that I haven’t checked any of the facts that follow, but I’m going to repeat
them anyway) that the rocket boosters on the American space shuttle were built
to a size based roughly on the width of two horses’ backsides.You
see the boosters had to travel to the launch-pad by train, passing through a
tunnel along the way. The gauge of the US railway line, 4ft 8½ inches, dictated
the width of the tunnel - and the American rail tracks were based on our own
British ones. So how was the gauge of our tracks determined? Well they were
based on the width of the tram tracks which came earlier. The tram tracks were
set at roughly the same distance apart as the ruts created by horse-drawn
vehicles, to avoid putting unnecessary pressure on the wheels. How far apart
were those ruts in the road? …About the width of two horses trotting side by
side.Now
I don’t want to sound too dramatic, but NASA aren’t the only organisation to
have faced an issue that originates from the days of horse-drawn vehicles.
Here in the medieval village of Cartmel, people often wonder how we
manage to get 20,000 racegoers through the narrow roads and rural lanes that
surround the racecourse. If I had a pound for every person who suggested that
we should build a new road around the village, I might just be able to pay for
one; not that anyone who has received my tips on a regular basis is likely to
give me a pound for anything. (This Saturday, by the way, I’m going for Jonny
Delta in the 4.40 at York).So
we went to “plan b” – and brought in the professionals. SEP Events Ltd have
been helping the public to gain access to many of Britain’s busiest events
since 1989 including: the Aintree Grand National, the Goodwood Festival of
Speed, music festivals and this week’s Great Yorkshire Show. In addition to
helping us devise a traffic management system which is sanctioned by the County
Council, SEP Events design the appropriate road signage, set out thousands of
road cones and provide staff for all the key positions including most of our
car parks. They are the NASA of the car-parking universe.

SEP’s
traffic management system involves the creation of dedicated one-way routes
into the racecourse, which are reversed half way through the day to facilitate
the get-away. In the meantime, we try to keep surrounding lanes available for
local residents to negotiate their way around the village to continue with
their normal business. So if you’re approaching the racecourse next week and
think you know a short-cut, please help us to avoid gridlock by sticking to the
signed routes and don’t rely on your sat-nav, especially if you’re driving a
space shuttle or a horse drawn cart.

Thursday, 4 July 2013

Bill Shankly the
Scottish football manager is credited with saying “Some people believe
football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that
attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.”

Having observed
the river of tears flowing from Wimbledon over the last two weeks, no one could
mistake the importance of winning to the participants. It was similar at my
daughter’s sports day last week - the cheating that goes on in an egg and spoon race; those Mums should
be ashamed of themselves!

Yes, sport can
inspire us and it may even be good for our health – but it is also providing a
major boost to our economy. A recent report, published by Deloitte on behalf of
the British Horseracing Authority, has demonstrated that racing generates £1.1
billion of direct expenditure within our economy, plus a further £2.45 billion
of indirect expenditure. The core industry employs the equivalent of 17,400
people on a full time basis and involves a wider network of 85,000 employees
working in associated businesses including farriers, vets and of course betting
related businesses.

Despite
generating high levels of income and expenditure, very little cash actually
leaves the sport in the form of profit to shareholders. While racing delivers
£275 million in tax receipts every year and has invested an average of £95
million a year over the last decade in capital projects, just £12 million per
annum is distributed through dividends or share buy-backs. That’s less than 1%
of the industry’s cash inflows.

Horseracing is
comfortably the second-most-attended spectator sport in Britain after football,
stimulating around 5.6 million visits in 2012. On average each fixture attracts
just over 4,050 racegoers, although here at Cartmel the combined appeal of our
scenic surroundings and Bank Holiday fixtures has attracted an average of more
than 9,700 per day over the last ten years.

While 5% of British racegoers stay
overnight as part of their trip nationally, at Cartmel the percentage can often
exceed 25% with visitors descending on the Lakes from all corners of the
country and frequently overseas too. Deloitte estimate that the secondary spend
of racing's consumers including travel, accommodation and associated activities is worth
more than £1.2 billion to Britain every year - good news for Cartmel's accommodation providers, retailers and restauranteurs.

We’re just
over two weeks away from our most valuable fixture of the year, when we're looking forward to welcoming another large crowd, but Sandown stage
their biggest day on Saturday. I am anticipating Al Kazeem to
confirm his recent Royal Ascot form with Mukhadram to win the £425,000 Coral
Eclipse Stakes. I just hope that the jockey isn’t caught holding the egg on the
spoon with his finger.

About the Author

Jonathan has made a career out of being a racing geek - having spent time running The Sun newspaper's "Punters Club", the (long departed) Sporting Life's Green-card Service, Worcester Racecourse, Fontwell Park, Scottish Racing Marketing Ltd and now the iconic Cartmel Racecourse.

In his spare time he likes to study form and go to the races.

All opinions, recommendations or forecasts, expressed or implied within the blog or website, are for informational purposes only and should not be construed as financial advice.

Users are solely responsible for any consequences resulting from acting on information included in the blog or on the website. Neither Jonathan Garratt nor Cartmel Racecourse is in anyway liable for any direct, indirect or consequential loss, damage or expense incurred by readers or users of the blog or website.

Where applicable, independent financial advice should be obtained. Past results are not in any way a guarantee of future success.